It offers ZERO benefit and several risks, most especially REDUCED ABILITY TO REASON. We should not ever advocate its use and do everything within our power to limit its availability.

The only way to change my mind is convincing me it serves some purpose like, cure cancer or something and because you cannot offer any reason to use it then any arguing given is invalid.

Uhm....a widely available, relatively harmless, stress-blasting, cheap painkiller that is able to be given to many people who suffer from chronic pain and rely on expensive synthetics, many of whom are elderly people who are unable to work? No benefit? Lawl.

yeah if im a drug addict I could care less about the perils haha and I think you mean prison not jail

You wouldn't be a drug addict in the first place were you properly informed about drug facts and actually cared about the people around you. At that point, not even banning the drug could make you a more beneficial or productive person. The root of your problem at that stage isn't the drug itself.

Well of course there would but exacerbating the situation by allowing the recreational use of drugs is utterly foolish.

I have a friend who's brother and his brother's wife were smoking marijuana and their infant began chocking and they were UNABLE to follow the directions given them by the 911 operator to save their child's life!

Situations like this happen ALL THE TIME. What if you're alone in your basement as above and your house catches on fire due to bad wiring. Suddenly SOMEONE ELSE has to risk their life saving YOU because you were stupid enough to smoke marijuana alone in your basement thinking you were hurting nobody. As I said before we are not islands unto ourselves!

It is impossible to use these drugs responsibly, it is impossible, it is impossible, IT IS IMPOSSIBLE.

Stop deluding yourself! You have already lost this argument! Any further attempt to argue your point will only make you look like an idiot.

yeah if im a drug addict I could care less about the perils haha and I think you mean prison not jail

You wouldn't be a drug addict in the first place were you properly informed about drug facts and actually cared about the people around you. At that point, not even banning the drug could make you a more beneficial or productive person. The root of your problem at that stage isn't the drug itself.

what about environmental factors where you have no choice but to use drugs?

^Again, you are looking at a very small percentage of people. You might be forced to use the drug if you're in severe pain but allergic to a lot of other common meds. In that case, it's actually helping you. You might be forced to use a drug if someone tied you up and made you smoke but, in that case, it is also arguably helping you. The person threatening you is also a huge retard.

@Tek: You might as well ban peanuts because peanuts actually many kill more people each year than marijuana-related incidents. And we don't really NEED to have peanuts to survive. A 'potential danger' does not eliminate the possibility of a good use for a certain drug or of a certain anything. And this relatively tiny potential for danger is precisely what you are referencing when you reason for all drugs to be banned. Nobody is encouraging the reckless recreational use of drugs. Reckless recreational use is simply a by-product of drug availability and the pleasurable effects a drug may have, combined with a person's already-existing disposition. Sort of like giving a pocket knife to a rampaging guy who already has a gun.

Think of it this way, a scenario in which potential danger is weighed against a much bigger potential benefit: There is a button you can press for a small fee each day (you must pay before each time you press it). Each time you press it, there is a 80% chance you will feel like you are on top of the world but there is a 0.01% chance that you will die. Will you still press the button? I'd personally say that the potential benefit may outweigh the risks. If you still think there is an absolute right or wrong answer to this type of question, then there is obviously nothing else I can say to convince you to put yourself in other people's shoes.

We may not be islands unto ourselves, but that sort of 'armchair-general' mentality makes you unable to see reality.

In my opinion, regulations for any substance with an unusually high potential for abuse is a must. Sort of like how there is a legal age for drinking and smoking and how they tax the living hell out of everything.

Regretfully, the US government makes far too much money off it being illegal. When they have the ability to seize property merely on the premise of a drug sale might have happened on the property in question. (RCW 69.50.505 - http://apps.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=69.50.505 )

If you're not sure what this means, read the law. It's some scary shit. It's also part of most state's legislature. So smoke carefully my friend.

Just regulate marijuana like you do with Beer (No one under 21/18, no smoking and driving, etc.)Even if it's illegal, I and many other people can obtain it with ease.People are gonna do what people are gonna do, and mj wont get legalized till society can grow up and quit being such hypocrites.

I've smoked marijuana several times before, get faded.
I've drank a lot before, get wasted.
Basically, IT'S THE SAME.

Just regulate marijuana like you do with Beer (No one under 21/18, no smoking and driving, etc.)Even if it's illegal, I and many other people can obtain it with ease.People are gonna do what people are gonna do, and mj wont get legalized till society can grow up and quit being such hypocrites.

I've smoked marijuana several times before, get faded.
I've drank a lot before, get wasted.
Basically, IT'S THE SAME.

Except marijuana is clearly safer. There's never been a case of someone dying from marijuana overdose. While you can easily die from drinking too much from several different causes.